World Breaker: Depths of Despair

Chapter 26 The Four-tailed Kistune

I walk through the ornate door in the massive tree, through the long tunnel that is bored smoothly through the tree, and come into a large clearing. This large clearing is slightly oval in shape, approximately 300 feet long by 200-250 feet wide. The entire clearing is flanked on all sides by gorgeous purple wisteria hanging from wooden trellises along the entire border of the clearing. This place has a definite mystical feel to it as the artificial sunlight beams through the trellises illuminating the hanging wisteria. A breeze blows through the clearing causing the wisteria to sway back and forth. Admiring the beauty of this place has to wait though, for the enemy before me is one that absolutely cannot be ignored.

Standing in the center of the clearing stands yet another beast of myth. This is one any fan of Japanese culture or anime would recognize immediately. This is a creature straight from Japanese mythology. Standing before me is a massive fox. Its coat is shining silver with glowing purple accents on the paws, on its face and head, and ends of the tails that match the gentle glow of the wisteria around the clearing. Yes, I said tails as in plural! There are four of them, each waving in different directions from the other. This monstrosity stands about the size of a standard school bus. I inspect the foe before me, but judging from the glare of its glowing purple eyes, I already knew this is going to be trouble.

Four-Tailed Kitsune
Level 115
HP: 15,000/15,000
MP: 600/600

Skills:
Maul
Dash
Camouflage
Shape-shift

Oh boy, that's not looking good. We are about evenly matched in terms of level, well, I'm at level 120, but it has a TON of HP, and it appears to be able to use magic as it has MP. It has the same skills as the Dire Wolf, but those camouflage and shape-shift skills are seriously concerning. Say nothing of the sheer size of this thing. It's like I'm about to pick a fight with a fucking city bus! A bus that has razor sharp teeth and claws that look like they are made of steel!

As much as I would love to stand here and admire the absolute majesty of this being before me, it's time to get down to business. I draw my daggers, but I don't move toward the boss just yet. We just stand there staring at each other, sizing each other up. The fur of its coat and the long silver whiskers on its face are waving with the breeze that's blowing through the arena. Its glowing purple eyes seem to pierce straight into my soul. Neither of us seem to be in a hurry to clash with the other. Well, at least I'm not as this Kitsune is giving off an aura that is telling me it's deadly, even at my current level.

If you would have told 17-year-old me on earth that 10 years from now you would be a 10-year-old girl standing in a forest clearing about to throw down with a level 115 silver and purple Kitsune, a Japanese mythological guardian of the forest, I would have told you that you lost a screw or two. You are not playing with a full deck. That you were absolutely fucking nuts. Yet here I am. This creature is so beautiful that I just want to stand here and admire it. It's going to be a shame to stain that beautiful fur red.

I take a step forward into the clearing toward my enemy. As I get closer, the purple glow on the creature's fur seems to crackle with energy. Suddenly, the whole fox shimmers and fades into nothing. I immediately take my stance.

*BOOM!*

"UUUAAAAHHHH!!!!"

I scream in pain as I'm suddenly struck from behind. I feel cracking in my spine as I'm sent hurtling toward the opposite side of the clearing. Suddenly the silver fox appears directly in front of me, a massive paw reared back for a swipe. I curl up holding my legs and arms in front of me to block the blow.

*BOOOM!*

I can feel the shock of the strike ripple through my core as I'm sent flying back in the direction I came from. The hanging Wisteria along the edge of the arena actually gets blown back from the shock of the strike.